ISP startup Angie Communications, which announced fiber connectivity in 87 cities late last year, is now planning to offer residential service in cities where Google has stopped FTTH deployments.

February 8, 2017

5 Min Read

SANTA MONICA - Angie Communications USA, Inc., a newly launched Internet Service Provider that specializes in Gigabit connectivity, and part of Angie Communications International B.V., the world's largest telecoms start-up, today announced that it will enter cities where Alphabet/Google has stopped its Fiber-to-the-Home projects. Angie will fill the void that Google left in those markets.

Most recently, Angie announced the availability of fiber optic connectivity in 87 cities in the USA where the company has access to almost 10,000 on-net buildings. Angie will roll out its Gigabit Cities projects in those 87 cities and several former Google Fiber cities.

Angie has been developing strategic partnerships with industry players for years, resulting in a unique business model that allows for the “commoditization” of highly coveted 10 Gigabit connections that have - until now - been out of reach for practically all business buildings. Angie’s unique business and deployment model, powered and supported by fiber network operators of all sizes across the nation, makes quick deployment on a massive scale possible. Angie’s 10-Gigabit connections serve as hubs for local wired and wireless services that allow connectivity up to a Gigabit per second to end-users.

“Our approach is different from Google Fiber and any other fiber operator,” said Neal Lachman, Group CEO of Angie Communications. “Instead of pulling fiber to millions of premises, which is very time consuming and requires an investment of billions of dollars, Angie capitalizes on the tens of billion dollars worth fiber that is already invested and rolled out by our partners. In the USA, there are more than 30,000 on-net buildings within Angie’s reach, already connected by our partners. Angie wants to connect 100,000 buildings and five million premises with fiber over the next five years.”

FCC's Chairman, Ajit Pai, has recently made specific Gigabit and broadband deployment proposals that will greatly benefit Angie's nationwide rollout. Referred to these proposals by Chairman Pai on Twitter as to aid the "case for competitive upstarts like Angie", this is a prime example of Angie's massive opportunities in the changing next generations communications landscape.

When it comes to former Google Fiber cities, Angie’s Master Plan calls for large scale rollouts, starting over the next three to four months in soon to be announced cities. Angie is finalizing its plans with specialist firms will design, build and maintain new infrastructure. One of the selected firms is Bear Communications, LLC (Bear) a leading engineering and construction company that operates throughout the USA.

Bear was one of the first companies hired to build the FTTH network for Google Fiber in Kansas City (Google Fiber’s first US market). Bear continued to expand its operation when committing to construct Google Fiber’s network in Nashville. In September 2016, Bear was awarded a 3 year, 1,000 mile fiber optic network construction project with Huntsville Utilities in Alabama.

Commenting on the selection, Lance V. Addison, President and Chief Operations Officer of Bearsaid, “Partnering with Angie on their large-scale rollout in the USA is a significant milestone for Bear and one we’re very proud of. Bears experience, track record and our unique scalable operating platform will help drive Angie’s growth and success in the USA.”

In order to create an opportunity for other partners to join Angie’s projects, the company is also launching its Invitation to Tender (ITT) today, making it available for any company that wants to build parts of the Angie projects. More information about the ITT and the process can be found at www.ang.ie/vdr.

Farooq Malik, Angie’s COO Americas, stated, “Angie outsources almost everything, relying on local specialists that know the markets inside out. This approach allows for large scale rollouts and quick deployments beyond anything the industry has ever seen before. The infrastructure we are building, with thousands of on-net and new 10-Gigabit buildings, allows for upcoming 5G mobile small cell deployments and the massive backhaul capacity that is going to be essential for the communications industry. More so, residential users get to benefit from Gigabit connectivity, starting at an introductory price of just $30 per month.”

Angie is also offering owners of nearby buildings to also connect them on the Angie fiber network. Gregory Nemitz, Angie’s Group COO, said, “We use the on-net buildings that sign up with Angie as hubs to pull fiber to the near-net or off-net buildings where we can serve tenants an unit owners with wired and/or wireless Gigabit services. This deployment model means that physical construction work in the initial phases of our rollout is limited to the least amount possible. The money we save on CapEx is passed on to our customers in the low pricing structure.”

The buildings that end up being connected by Angie (the so-called Angie Buildings), double as backhaul hubs for Angie’s Wireless Extreme service, which is the company’s wireless Gigabit service for city-wide use. At many of its 10-Gigabit buildings, Angie will also install 10-Gigabit Wireless millimeter wavelength units on the rooftop in order to create wireless local backbones.

Dr. Mahmoud El-Sherif, Group CTO, said, “The combination of fiber and wireless communication systems in a single communication network will also provide the most efficient and cost-effective networks for future massive applications within Gigabit and smart cities' communication infrastructures.”

Neal Lachman continued, “While all parties are under mutual NDAs and we cannot and do not want to disclose much about the underlying business and deployment model, the proof of our commoditization of 10 Gigabit fiber connections is in the pudding. If a building owner in any of our markets in the USA wants to order the Wired Extreme 10 Gigabit connection now, they can check the online documents and get the ball rolling to have their building connected within three to four months. The building owner will not be charged any money; instead, we'll focus on signing up tenants as Angie customers.”

Angie Communications

Subscribe and receive the latest news from the industry.
Join 62,000+ members. Yes it's completely free.

You May Also Like